Chennai based filmmaker Santhosh has made feature film about the mass uprising of Tamil youngsters and students at Marina for Jallikattu in January this year. The film is currently in post production stage and the makers plan to bring it to the screens in two or three months.

This innovative experiment has been produced by Nirupama of Ahimsa Productions with Guru Saravanan , from Singapore Jayapal N from Washington joining as co-producers. Acclaimed Bollywood filmmaker, producer and actor Anurag Kashyap is the Executive Producer of this project.

The technical crew of this film comprises of Cinematographer S Ka Boopathy,Music director Ramesh Vinayakam, Editor Kasi Vishwanathan, Audiographer Udhaykumar and several others.

Why a film on Jallikattu protest?

Santhosh explains what drove him to make a film on Marina uprising for Jallikattu.

"As film makers we felt there are several stories that need to be told around this and we decided to make a film on this uprising. During the time of the marina protest, we commenced filming the real crowd and started increasing the quantum of coverage with each day. There are several aspects of the society that can be seen through this movement. We did not have to go to a restaurant for food. We were constantly getting them. People were distributing food items. Suddenly an old lady came and started distributing Tea.In train journeys we will hesitate to eat the food items given by co-passengers but here no one had such hesitation. There was no pickpocket, chain snatching, sexual harassment or any other untoward incident."

Reality and Fiction combined to make a film

Titled as 'Jalllikattu, 5 - 23 Jan​uary​ 2017' this Tamil feature film will have original footage of the historical protest at Marina as well as the fictionalised account of how some of the youngsters joined the protest.

"We have several hours of real footage from the marina site and also shot extensively with several pioneers of this moment. It’s with a sense of great pride that we say that we have made this into a tamil feature film for everyone to experience and cherish." Santhosh informs.

Explaining further about the components of real footage and fiction in this film, the director explains,

"Everyone who took part in the protest will have a family, an office etc. I have shot these things as fiction. I have made the people who took part in the protest to act in these portions. I followed 20-30 protesters. Few of them refused to take part in the film due to various reasons. So while watching the film it will be a linear account of what lead them to take part in the protest. I have got footage of this protest from 50 countries. I have followed all important icons associated with this protest. Justice Markandeya Katju, Karthikeya Senathipathi, P.Rajasekhar of Jallikattu Peravai will be a part of this film."

A grand visual marvel! 12 Lakh People in one shot

In Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi', the climax scene was shot with three lakh original people. That was the shot with largest number of people without any CG work. In the Marina protest there was 12 lakh people at one particular point of time. This has been captured by Santhosh in a drone shot and people will get to see this visual marvel on the big screen through this this film.

Teaser launch at the UN

The first look of the film was unveiled on June 4th 2017 in Wall Street, New York, the epicentre of the historical Occupy Wall Street Movement.

The teaser is going to be released at a much biWe are launching the teaser on Tuesday (June 20, 2017) at United Nations Head Quarters, Nairobi. Many International icons such as Malala Yousafzai, pioneers of Black Umbrella movement, Hongkong, participants of Arab Spring. are participating in the event. In that we have got a 20 minutes slot for us from India. They (UN) gives this much importance to us since they don't see this as a film. They see this as a large peoples movement. They see this as process where the people's unity has changed the law. They see this as the biggest gathering that has taken place in Asian region. We are releasing a 90 second teaser and also show some footage to them. "

Note about the director

Born in Trichy and now residing in Chennai, Santhosh started his career as an assistant to cinematographer P C Sreeram. Later he moved to Hollywood to work as an operative cameraman assisting Academy award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zigmond. This is his maiden debut feature film.

IndiaGlitz wishes the Best for the team behind the film 'Jallikattu' and we hope this will be a memorable film for every Tamil person who supported the historical Jallikattu protest which ended as the victory for people's unity for a good cause.